William Augustus Leggo (25 January 1830 – 21 July 1915) was a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea, or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

, engraver and

businessperson A businessperson, also referred to as a businessman or businesswoman, is an individual who has founded, owns, or holds shares in (including as an angel investor) a private-sector company. A businessperson undertakes activities (commercial ...

. He is noted for co-inventing the half-tone engraver with George-Édouard Desbarats. He had several

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

s to his name, including leggotyping and granulated photography.

Early life

Leggo was born in

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

on January 25, 1830, to William Augustus Leggo, a bookbinder and engraver, and Margaret Grant. After graduating from

Quebec High School Quebec High School (QHS) is a high school belonging to the Central Quebec School Board. The School is located in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, and is one of three English-language high schools that serve the Quebec City region (the others being S ...

, he apprenticed as an engraver, first to his father and then to Cyrus A. Swett in Boston.

Career

Leggo worked with his brothers Thomas, Edward, and Henry in the family engraving business before partnering with George-Paschal Desbarats and Stewart Derbishire as Wm. A Leggo and Company on January 21, 1863. George-Paschal's son, George-Édouard Desbarats, joined the partnership when Derbishire died in March 1863, and became sole partner when his father died in November 1964. The two patented "Leggotyping", a type of photomechanical reproduction for

letterpress printing Letterpress printing is a technique of relief printing for producing many copies by repeated direct impression of an inked, raised surface against individual sheets of paper or a continuous roll of paper. A worker composes and locks movable t ...

, on February 27, 1865. Leggo and Desbarats founded Leggo and Company in Montreal on January 21, 1868. Desbarats' newspapers, ''

Canadian Illustrated News The ''Canadian Illustrated News'' was a weekly Canada, Canadian illustrated magazine published in Montreal from 1869 to 1883. It was published by George-Édouard Desbarats, George Desbarats. The magazine was notable for being the first in the w ...

'' (est. October 1869) and '' L'Opinion publique'' (est. January 1870), both made use of Leggotyping. In 1873, the pair formed the Union Art Publishing Company and founded the New York '' Daily Graphic'', the first daily illustrated newspaper. While it was a pioneering effort, it was not a financial success, and Desbarats returned to Montreal soon after.Black, Harry
Canadian Scientists and Inventors: Biographies of People who Shaped Our World
p. 57 (2d ed. 2008) The paper ran until 1889, but by 1879 Leggo was also back in Montreal, where he began a business partnership with William H. Guillebaud as Leggo and Company. Leggo died in 1915 at

Lachute, Quebec Lachute () is a town in southwest Quebec, Canada, northwest of Montreal, on the Rivière du Nord, a tributary of the Ottawa River, and west of the Mirabel International Airport. It is located on Autoroute 50, at the junctions of Quebec Provin ...

Publications

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Leggo, William 1830 births 1915 deaths Province of Canada people Canadian printers Canadian inventors